Daily Archives: May 29, 2012

One of the great things about having people stay with us is that they bring wine…so did a prospective Australian at my wife’s graduate program when she was staying with us in March to check out UMich.

She brought us this Australian Gewürztraminer. Alsace (a French region in the east bordering Southern Germany) is famous for its incredible gewürztraminer, and Germany produces a decent amount. I am quite fond of this varietal. It always has an incredible nose to it, its name literally translates to “spice traminer” or “perfume traminer”. There is always so much going on in your nostrils with these wines. They are naturally high in sugar and that can be their problem when they get too sweet. I have had quite a number of gewürztraminers, but most of them ended up too sweet in my glass.

This one, by Taylors wineries, a big producer from Clare Valley in South Australia, was her choice. I think she mentioned that she liked the umlaut in the label and that it was a German sounding grape. Quite thoughtful! The wine is from Taylor’s mid-tier level of wines called Taylors Estate and seems to retail for about AUS$ 19. I could not find retailers in the US.

The wine in the glass was a very light green and yellow. In the nose, the most prominent smell was that of vineyard peaches. There were distince floral notes, too. To me, it smelled like an Alpine valley in the summer. It was really nice and clean.

The first tastes that I got were citrussy. It was wonderfully dry and pleasantly refreshing (it’s very humid today, so any refreshment was very welcome!!). Nina remarked on litchi flavors, which the bottle also claimed on its back. I am not sure I tasted those. The finish was a bit short, but hey, that made me get a refill quickly. The winery’s tasting note is available here.

I liked this wine. It was just the right thing for a summer afternoon. I told our friend she can come back.